This invention embodies a labor saving device for the quick and proper installation of joist hangers which, in turn, are used to secure joists in their proper relationship to the supporting structure of a building.
The Hawkes tool, U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,755 install joist hangers properly, even under ideal conditions. Unless the carpenter or steel worker first notches the bottom of the joist, Hawkes, bottom flange causes the joist to be mounted too high because the hanger is pushed up into the space where the joist itself should be. If the flange in question was removed from the Hawkes tool to allow proper installation of the joist hanger, the means for holding the tool to the beam would be lost and the tool would fall off the beam due to improper weight distribution.
Due to lumber shrinkage and the difference in lumber dimensions from mill to mill, and indeed, from batch to batch, the necessity of an adjustable tool is indicated.
A user would need an infinite number of Hawkes' tools. In the field, we often must install joists either high or low on a beam (perhaps 2.times.8 joists to a 4.times.12 beam) which further indicates the necessity for an adjustable tool. Indeed, the likelihood of any beam being the exact dimension of a batch of joists is small.
The Hawkes tool has no means to engage the side flanges of a joist hanger. This portion of a hanger must be held in proper configuration to insure plumb mounting of joists. Joist hangers are shipped nested from the manufacturers and must be bent and held by hand to their proper shape while being nailed or welded. Therefore, the Hawkes tool does not provide a hands free operation as claimed.